Machine for cleaning cotton-seed.



- A BNTED 'APR. 26, 1904.

. J. DAYIIDSON. MACHINE FOR CLEANING COTTON SEED.

APPI-IGATION mmn' JUNE 25. was.

'2 SHEETS-S11E31 1.

N0 KODBL.

INVENTQR ATTORNEY.

I V/TNESSES: I

No. 758,309. .BATENTED 111311.26, 1904;

' J. DAVIDSON.

Y MACHINE FOR CLEANING 00mm SEED.

APPLIQATIOK FILED JUNE 25. 1903. N0 MODEL. I r 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

' WITNESSES.- 'INVLNTUR.

'3 9 W I Y A TTO-RNEY.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

COTTON OIL COMPANY, OF JERSEY CITY,

TION OF NEW JERSEY.

NEW JERSEY, A coRPonA-j MACHlNE FOR CLEANING COTTON-SEED.

- sPncmcA'rIoN forming part of Letters mat No. 758,300, dated "April 26,1964.

Application filed June 25, 1903 nails, fragments of wood, and the like; and

i the invention consistsfundamentally in a revolving cylinder and an appurtenant feed mechanism and also in various. details and combinations, substantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating my invention, Figure 1 is a transverse section of my improved seed-cleaning machine. Fig. 2 is a detail sectional viewshowing ablast employed with a drum madeof wire-cloth.

.25 Fig. 3 is a detail end view of a modified form' of cylinder or drum clothed with card clothing. Fig. its an end view'of another modilied form of revolving drumclothed with narrow strips of cloth. Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the n iachine.

Similar numerals of reference designate like parts throughout the different figures of the drawings.

1 denotes a hopper into which the cotton- 3 5 seed or other material to be cleaned is fed from a spout, conveyer, or feed device. As the hopper is of some length, thesee'd is distributed throughout the same from end to end, the distribution being accomplished by means 4 of a roller 2, suitably journaled at the ends in the hopper 1 and provided on one of its projecting ends with a pulley 4, to which a drive-belt is applied. The roller 2 is provided with lugs 3, which are set at an angle in order that the roller may act as a conveyer to carry the seed along. and distribute it evenly through the opening 6 in the bottom of the hopper. Said opening is formed between the Serial uaieaosa (N0 model.) 7

edges of the curved portion'5 of the bottom of the hopper and the adjustable horizontal plate 7, whose adjustment is effected by means of screws 8", having hand whee'ls 8. Through longitudinal opening ,6, therefore, the seed containing the usual proportion of foreign and extraneous matter passes to the action of the cleaning-drum.. Whatever surplps there is of seed flows out of the openend of hopper l.

onto the floor or into some receptanle'or bin or drum 9, having a shaft 11', on'one end of. which is a belt-pulley'12, around. which may pass the same belt that is in contact with the pulley 4, and on the other end of shaft 11 is another belt-pulley, 13. This drum has its shaft 11 journaled in suitable bearings in a main frame 10, which is preferably of .a stout wooden or metal construction in order to withstand the vibration due to the revolution of the drum. The seed from the hopper l will obviously flow-in a steady stream upon the drum 9 and will be carried thereby upward and over in the direction of rotation, as shown by the arrow in, Fig. 1. This movement is caused by the friction of the seed against the drum and by the blast of air generated through the motion of the drum within its casing, seed being delivered at 14 into a conveyer which transports them to the mill or any other distant point. Rocks, fragments of stone and wood, nails, pieces of metah'and other hard or objectionableforeign and extraneous substances that are heavier than the seed will not be carried along with the seed by theair-blast, but, will fall by gravity over the face of the drum, -inasmuch as the friction between them andv the face of the drum is less than that of the seed, and hence these foreign substances will slide downwardly and become separated from the seed, as shown in Fig. 1, against the direction of rotation of the drum and finally will be removed from the machine at the bottom at 15.

The drum 9 is incased by housings 16 at the sides and, a plate 1'7 at the front and also the breast or concave-18 at the rear. The plate 17 is provided at each end with a rack .8, engaged by a pinion 19' on a pinion-shaft 20. This rack-and-pinion construction permits the plate 17 and they housings 16 to be adjusted relatively to the drum -and to the breast 18 to regulate the size of the channel which conveys the air-blast. It. will be observed that, the housings 16 are supported pivotally and reinovably on the bearing-boxes of the drum 9. and that they carry the hopper 1 and are susceptible of a rotary motion within certain limits around the drum-bearings, whereby the channel through which the air-blast passes is not .only regulated, but also the point of delivery of seed from the opening 6v to the drum 9 is governed. The housings 16 are held rigidly in any desired position or-are allowed an adjusting movement,"as explained, by tightening or loosening set screws 21, that pass through slots 22, the slots being cut in plates rigidly secured to the drum-bearings and the set-screws being carried by the housings, or vice versa, as preferred.

The drum or cylinder 9 is susceptible of various modifications. It may, as shown in Fig. 1, consist simply of a drum having a metal face revolving with'sufiicient velocity to 'set in motion a belt or channel of'air between' itself and the surrounding casing, which aircurrent will besufiiciently strong, together with'the friction of the seed against the drum, to carry the seed up and over in the direction of rotation of the drum, but not strong enough to carry in the same mannerthe heavy particles of. foreign substances, said particles sliding down the drum against the direction of rotation and becoming separated from the seed. A modification of this drum is shown in Fig. 2, where it is shown consisting of wire-cloth. as at 23, with a wire-cloth drum of this kind the seed will be delivered to and held against the drum by a. blast of air from without and by the suction from a'fan arranged in a casing, as 24, at the end of the drum, so .that it may exhaust air from the interiorof thelatter. In this case the principle involved is that the seed will be held against the drum by'a blast of air strong enough to cause the seed to stick to the drum and to pass over to the point of delivery as the drum revolves, but not strong enough to carry or hold the fragments of rock, metal, and other foreign substances. In Fig. 3 I show another will not be caught. -In Fig. 4 is, a still fur-- ther modified form of the drum, as 26, which is clothed with narrow stripsof cloth 27, that are held perpendicular to the surface of the drum by centrifugal force. The seed is'delivered to these. strips and carried over by them, while the heavier particles of rock or metal when they hit the strip will knock it out of shape, so that it will fall away and the heavy particle will not be carried over there-- by. Various other modifications will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

Having thus described my invention, what I I claim as new, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is,

" 1. In a machine for cleaning cottonam similar seed, the combination of a feed device,

arevolving drum, a surrounding case, means for adjusting the outlet from the feed to the drum, and means for regulating the size of the channel between the drum and casing in which the air-blast is generated.

2. In a machine for cleaning cotton and other seed, a revolving drum in combination with a hopper, a revolving seed-distributer therein, means for adjusting the outlet from the hopper to the revolvingdrum,and means 'for regulating the size of the channel between the drum and its casing.

3. In a machine for cleaning cotton-seed and other similar material, the combination with a revolving 'drum, of a surrounding casing, means for regulating the feed of the seed to the drum, and means for regulating the size of the channel in which the air-blast is generated.

Signed at Atlanta, Georgia, this 22d day of June, 1903.

JOSEPH DAVIDSON Witnesses:

WALTER D. NASH, L.G. STEVENSON. 

